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JD (Jerome David) Salinger (b1919)
Who?
New York born novelist and short story writer, whose book The Catcher in the Rye, telling the story of a boarding school runaway trying to lose his virginity, still has particular resonance for the young. This became even more the case when conservatives attacked the author and his work for being too anti-adult and anti-authority.
Must reads
The Catcher in the Rye (1951), For Esmé: With love and Squalor, and Other Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961), Raise High the Roof-Beam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963) and Hapworth 16 1924 (1997).
Darkest hour
As an infantryman in the Second World War.
Greatest triumph
Becoming the sage for generations of disaffected youth with Catcher, which continued to sell 250,000 copies annually for many years after its first publication.
Essential quotes
'What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.' (The Catcher in the Rye)
'Sex is something I really don't undertstand too hot.' (The Catcher in the Rye)
'A confessional passage has probably never been written that didn't stink a little bit of the writer's pride in having given up his pride.' (Seymour: An Introduction)
Gossip
He is a recluse who lives in New Hampshire and he worked on a cruise liner as a dancing partner for rich spinsters.
Did u know?
His father was a Jewish cheese importer and his mother was Scottish. He has published very little since the 60s and he has often been compared unfavourably with his contemporary, the hugely productive John Updike.
What to say
His use of colloquial speech and his well-tuned ear for intimate, first person narrative give his stories a particularly natural flow.
Don't say
I suppose he must have a rye sense of humour.
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